Octopus Physical Characteristics

Most of us are fascinated by the overall anatomy of the Octopus. Well known for a very large head and eight arms, it is able to move around the water with speed and grace. As it moves the eight arms move along behind it. When one of the arms is lost due to injury it can grow a replacement in very little time.

Many people are dumbfounded to see an Octopus fit into spaces that seem way too small for their bodies. This is possible due to the fact that they don’t have any skeleton to them. They find these place to hide from predators and to remain undetected in the water.

The head of an Octopus is very large. They have a very hard beak on the mouth which you have to look very carefully at the head to find due to the fact that it blends in so well. Each of the eight arms has small suction cups on the ends of them. If you were to cut the body of an Octopus in half, it would be perfectly symmetrical on both sides.

How Many Hearts Do The Octopus Have?

Most people don’t know it, but the Octopus has three hearts. They have one that pumps blood through the gills for each side of the body. The third one is responsible for pumping the blood through the rest of the body. You may not notice unless you take a very good look at the body of these creatures that they have gills. This organ helps them with breathing as water is circulated through them.

The foods that the Octopus consume go through a very interesting process. They have to be in bite-sized pieces to go through the esophagus. From there they go into the brain and then routed through the digestive tract and into the stomach. The crop is a sac where the food is temporarily stored before it enters that digestive tract. They have a special type of gland in the body that triggers the digestion process.

Poison And Nervus System

Another gland that they have is to create and hold their venom. That is what they inject into their prey to immobilize it. Without this process, they would have a hard time getting their prey to be still. They rely upon their powerful beak to be able to break the shells of their prey. When they can’t, they have a very powerful sucking ability to take it out of the shell.

The nervous system for an Octopus is controlled by the brain, and it is very complex in nature. What is very interesting is that they don’t have any organs for hearing. Octopus is an animal that is deaf. They have a sac where the ink is produced when they need to release it and escape from danger.

There is actually a gland in the body that creates it. The amount of ink depends on the species of Octopus and the overall size of it.

There are several different types of movement that the Octopus is able to enjoy due to their overall anatomy. They are often seen walking around at a leisurely pace. They can also crawl by bending the arms at different angles.

They will swim rapidly to avoid danger or to be able to capture their own prey. They also have jet propulsion when they need to flee due to impending dangers so they can go extremely fast.

The vision for an Octopus is very good and they use it to help them move around in the water. They also rely upon their sight to keep a good lookout for various types of predators.

Octopus Abilities

The Octopus has an amazing body design. They are able to defend themselves in a variety of ways. The most common is flight since they can use jet propulsion to quickly move through the water. Their flexible body has no bones so they can escape into small cracks, rocks, crevices, and even into bottles and cans that have found their way into the bottom of the water.

The Octopus is well known for the ability to release a dark ink substance from glands in the body. When they experience stressful situations they will release this type of ink in order to disorient their predators. The ink reduces vision and the ability to smell. This leaves the predator confused and disoriented while the Octopus makes its rapid getaway.

Powerful Venom

The bite from an Octopus has a very powerful venom in it. This is how they are able to paralyze their prey while they consume them. This venom is generally not harmful to humans. There are only one species that has a powerful enough venom to kill a person. That is the Blue Ring Octopus. Actually, it can kill 26 full-grown men, in minutes.

Their ability to change colors due to control over their pigmentation is very important. They are able to blend into their surroundings this way. Both humans and predators in the water can go right by them without ever seeing them. In simple terms, they are able to hide right there in plain sight.

They can make that color change very rapidly, and that does help them to get away from predators. When they release ink they may only have a minute or two before they are pursued. By blending into the surroundings thug the predator will likely go right by them and find something else to make a meal out of.

For the Mimic Octopus, their defense mechanisms goes even further than that. It allows them to take on the coloring and the design of about 15 different types of animals. They will move in the water acting like eels, starfish, and more in order to stay away from predators. They will use this defense to also allow them to get very close to the food they wish to consume. In such a form they aren’t viewed as a threat until it is too late.

By nature, they are very fierce when it comes to defending their eggs from predators. Some species of females lay them in the coral reefs or well-hidden crevices. Others carry them safely under their arms until they are ready to hatch. They will spend so much time protecting their young that they forget about their own basic needs such as eating. Their bodies are designed for them to do all they can to ensure that as many of them are able to hatch as possible.

The design of the body for the Octopus is one that allows them to have various ways to defend themselves. Sometimes they are captured by prey by an arm or two and that would seem like the end of the road for them. Yet they are able to instinctively allow those arms to be pulled off and they swim away at top speed. In a short period of time, those arms will grow back. This type of defense mechanism is very fascinating and it works for all species of Octopus.

What is also amazing is that they seem to be able to adapt to their various environmental changes. With that, they end up finding creative ways to protect themselves. They will do all they can to defend themselves though. Any predator going after an Octopus better be up to a fight. That is why they generally leave the larger species alone.